Students at Parkland, FL's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have a new accessory that's meant to keep them safe from guns — clear backpacks.
A lot of the students issued the new backpacks are less than enthused about them. One student, Carmen Lowe, tweeted a picture of a clear backpack with a price tag of $1.05. In her tweet, as well as on her backpack, she wrote, "This backpack is probably worth more than my life."
Lauren Hogg, sister of David Hogg, the teen who was recently bullied on Twitter by Laura Ingraham, tweeted sarcastically that she felt "sooo safe now" that she had a clear backpack. The backpack itself she declared "almost as transparent as the NRA's agenda."
Another student, Delaney Tarr, tweeted that she was starting off the last quarter of her senior year with a "good ol' violation of privacy!"
A lot more students weighed in on the subject:
Carly Novell, a senior at MSD, told BuzzFeed News that she didn't think the backpacks were a good security measure, pointing out that people could hide stuff between folders inside. She added, "If the police can't protect us, backpacks can't either. I want to feel comfortable going to school and I haven't felt that since I've gone back."
One freshman's father shared a letter his son had written to Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie, outlining the reasons he didn't think that clear backpacks were a good idea. Among them were that girls might feel uncomfortable carrying tampons in a see-through backpack.
Not everybody was against the backpacks, though. Sixteen-year-old junior Dana Craig told BuzzFeed News she didn't have a problem with them, saying "I understand that the school is just trying to bring some sense on security."
Sara Giovanello, also 16, told BuzzFeed News, "I’m going to miss having privacy, but I guess if it makes us safer, I shouldn’t complain." But she added, "But I'm genuinely anxious that someone will see some hygiene products from the inside of my backpack, or see what i keep inside and rob me for it."
The new backpacks were not a surprise — students were told in a letter in March from Superintendent Runcie that when they returned, "clear backpacks are the only backpacks that will be permitted on campus."
In addition to the backpacks, students and faculty are now required to wear identification badges whenever they're on campus. Runcie added that the district was considering using metal-detecting wands and installing metal detectors in the school, according to BuzzFeed.
One student, Jack Macleod, tweeted a short video of himself in line to get into school, and a fellow student jokingly calling out, "Have fun boarding your plane." He himself said, "It's seriously like the TSA."
Macleod told BuzzFeed News, "Getting into school today was really no different than any other. I didn’t bring my backpack, just three folders, a pen, a bag for lunch, and a water." He also said, "They let me walk into campus, no problems. I feel as though today was more of a hassle than anything, but this is not what the peak of the security at MSD will look like, we’re told we will get metal detectors and staff will get metal detector wands."
He added that he is "100% for higher school safety measures."